What’s all this I hear about school lunches and how bad they are? The back-to-school frenzy is rumbling and it’s always a big topic.
In some cases it’s true, mystery meat is alive and well. On the other hand, we’re hearing stories of big change across the country and I want in.
Imagine, for example, a utopia where school lunch is so good even we adults flock to it during our workday.
Better yet, what if we all could hop off our exercise ball chairs, walk to a local school, order a healthy meal, then walk back? 15 minutes there, 5 minutes to order, 15 minutes back, and 20 minutes to eat; leaving 2 minutes on either end of the hour to change our shoes if necessary. Oh, wait, one more…. How about this? You go for your walk, you come back and the school has delivered food to you! That leaves you extra time to stretch or meditate. Nice.
Think about it. Lunch doesn’t have to be complicated. While I honor the restaurants that serve local businesses, the truth is, we just don’t need a huge, heavy lunch every day. A little sustenance goes a long way. What we need is a good walk, a break for our brains, and some time to socialize and interact with our communities.
What’s complicated is cost, availability, convenience and scale.
If schools are struggling to offer healthy food due to costs, indeed if they struggle to provide any food at all without federal aid, why not create a consumer demand? Many employees suffer from lack of healthy options at work too, especially options that are reasonably priced. Can you even bring lunch from home for less than $4 a day? I bet school food service could do it for less.
Sounds like a good marriage to me!
You laugh but I believe in it. In another life I’d make it happen. In fact, we’ve got clients using the savings from their wellness programs to create healthier meals in their school cafeterias as I write. So a movement is afoot.
Next time you’re thinking of bashing a local school’s food program, think about the potential and spread your ideas, better yet get involved. Some stories of schools making a great effort to improve include “farm-to-table” programs (bringing local produce, meat and dairy to the menu); making packaged salads that employees, parents and community members can buy; and teaching food service professionals how to return to cooking from scratch (on a massive scale).
In one story about cooking from scratch, a Colorado school was able to dump their pre-packaged, 35-ingredient burritos and create one on-site that has only 12 ingredients (none of which is lard). This same school actually found a dusty old box of recipes from the good old non-processed food days. With a modern twist for flavor and health, retro is in!
While schools are working up to these improvements nation-wide, the rest of us can certainly start on our end by taking back our lunch hour at the very least.
Recharge and renew. Then maybe you’ll have the energy to think of creative ways to engage your community in supporting healthy lunch options, wherever they may be percolating today.
See you in the healthy hot lunch line on the PATH Ahead.